After 25 years, Kansas City bar is getting new owners. Here’s what they’re planning

The Sand Trap, a neighborhood bar and grill at 13037 Holmes Road in south Kansas City, is changing hands.

Owners Carl and Bev Tutorino bought the Sand Trap in 1999 and have run it like a family business for the past 25 years, catering to golfers fresh off the links at Blue Hills Country Club and Minor Park as well as families from the nearby St. Thomas More parish.

“Time to retire,” Carl Tutorino said this week. “I’m gonna golf and mess around with my grandkids.”

Now it’s in the hands of four new owners — Chad Wilson, Michael DePalma, Rob Maloney, and John Miller — who are all veterans of the local bar business.

DePalma and Maloney are the former owners of the Brooksider. DePalma currently owns The Landing, a sports bar in Liberty. Maloney and Miller own Maloney’s in downtown Overland Park. Miller is also one of the owners of Sharks in Shawnee.

Wilson was a longtime bartender at Charlie Hooper’s in Brookside. He will manage the bar.

“I don’t think any of us feel we need to change anything too big right out of the gate,” Wilson said. “We’ll update the TVs, bring in some new tables and chairs, maybe fix up the bathrooms a bit. The Sand Trap has such good regulars — a lot of people that have been coming there for years and years. We don’t want to freak anybody out.”

The Sand Trap’s food menu is something of a par 5, featuring traditional bar food alongside Italian dishes and other daily specials. Eventually, Wilson said, they might add some beer taps (the bar doesn’t currently serve draft beer) and tighten that menu “just a little bit.”

“Everybody’s saying not to get rid of the Italian steak,” Wilson said.

But it’s not totally the end of the road for the Tutorino era at the Sand Trap. Bev plans to stay on for a couple of serving shifts per week, and cook Howard Sudduth, who’s been there for most of the Tutorinos’ run, plans to stick around as well.

The new group assumes ownership Oct. 14. A farewell party is planned for Oct. 5; it starts at 3 p.m. and will feature live music from The Morris Brothers at 7 p.m.